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As surely as night follows day (and vice versa), Tuesday’s release of Gov. Cuomo’s proposed 2011-12 budget prompted a large gathering of advocates representing labor, education, the poor and the environment to push for restorations of many planned cuts — those that have been specified, that is — with the needed revenue to be derived from a continuation of the PIT increase on higher-income New Yorkers that will sunset at the end of the year, perhaps with other revenue actions as needed.

The organizations are forming the GrowingTogetherNY Budget Coalition, which might be seen as the progressive equivalent of the pro-Cuomo Committee to Save NY.

“We are not here today to be confrontational to call the governor out, or anything of that sort,” said Ron Deutsch of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, who served as MC. “This is a democracy, it’s time for a healthy exchange of ideas around policy issues. And we will differ from the governor on how we should close this budget gap, and how this budget should be put together and formulated.”

Deutsch called the end of the PIT surcharge “a $5 billion tax cut to the wealthiest 2 to 3 percent of New Yorkers.”

“We don’t think that’s wise; it’s not good for the economy,” said Deutsch, who noted that the state’s sunset occurs as the federal government was continuing the Bush tax cuts. ” … Instead, when we talk about shared sacrifice, it seems were talking about the least of our brothers and sisters in this state.”

“We need to push back against this budget strongly. … The cuts are horrendous,” said NYSUT VP Andrew Pallotta, who said the combination of the trims and the proposed property tax cap would be especially brutal.

Tiara Velez of Community Voices Heard, which works with low-income families, was also especially brutal: “Gov. Cuomo would rather sip champagne with the Committee to Save NY than help little kids have a place to live.” (Uh, what was that about not being confrontational?)

Ken Brynien of PEF offered a metaphor for the state’s predicament that’s worth quoting in its entirety:

In your own families how do you solve a problem of a financial nature? You try to do two things: First, you try to save some money — you try to cut your expenses. You don’t go to the movies, you shop at discount stores, your put off the major purchases, you clip coupons, you do what you can do to save money. But at the same time you try and bring in more money. You work some overtime, maybe you get a second job — because you realize that you just can’t cut your way out of the problem. What you’ll end up with is having to make the decision between food or medicine if you do that. You have to try to bring in more money as you’re trying to cut your expenses. Unfortunately in this budget they’re not doing that. They’re just relying on cutting without relying on also bringing in some more money. And so when you’re rely on just cutting you have to cut deeper than you would normally want to, and the cuts that are being proposed here are devastating.

It’s unclear if the comparison of increased state taxation to a second job will resonate with either high- or low-income New Yorkers.

Alison Jenkins of Environmental Advocates seemed slightly out of place: She noted that Cuomo’s blueprint did right by staffing levels at agencies and support of the Environmental Protection Fund, and contained her critique to pressing for Brownfield Cleanup Program reforms.

Deutsch said the coalition would be going on the road to pitch its proposals after the fashion of the Committee to Save NY. He said that while legislative support at this point might seem limited, previous PIT increases were put forward by leaders (David Paterson, Joe Bruno) who were initially opposed to them.

Asked if they disagreed with the governor’s central thesis that New York’s current spending was unsustainable, Frank Mauro of the Fiscal Policy Institute said, “The numbers aren’t correct.” He also noted that education spending was in many ways driven by the result of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity’s 2006 court decision and the following year’s legislation enhancing resources for public schools.

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Capitol Confidential gathers the best coverage of New York politics and puts it all together. Each section - Capitol, The State Worker, New York on the Potomac, and Voices - represents a unique facet of the political scene. The Capitol section features coverage from the Times Union Capitol bureau. The State Worker is dedicated to state worker issues. New York on the Potomac offers news of interest to New Yorkers from Washington. And Voices features the best of everything else, pointing you to columnists and bloggers from across the Web.